Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine Arab Adult Third Culture Kids’ sense of heritage language ownership and their identity constructions in relation to their transnational Arab Gulf context. The present study has three main aims: to ascertain their sense of ownership towards their heritage dialects, to understand the basis for their claimed or denied ownership, and to investigate the positions they ascribed to themselves and others in relation to their belonging and transnational and linguistic experiences. The study aims to fill the gap where there is a scarcity of sociolinguistic research around Arab Third Culture Kids in the Gulf. Additionally, it seeks to address the diglossic context of the Arabic language by defining Arabic heritage language in relation to colloquial dialects spoken in home countries and to explore the complex transnational and linguistic experiences such a transnational population has. The present mixed-methods study utilized a language attitudes survey to measure heritage language ownership levels of 89 Arab Adult Third Culture Kids who grew up in the Gulf. Additionally, it thematically analyzed participants’ survey responses about heritage language ownership. It also analyzed written autobiographies of six participants using Bamberg’s positioning theory. Results revealed that participants had an overall strong sense of heritage language ownership towards their colloquial dialects. A thematic analysis of qualitative responses about heritage language ownership showed that they generally relied on criteria of authenticity, language skills, and environmental factors to support their heritage language ownership claims. Their narratives illustrated a range of different positions they ascribed to themselves. Mainly, they positioned themselves as transnational, multicultural, and open-minded individuals who cherished cultural and linguistic diversity. Their narratives revealed a strong sense of ownership and a complicated sense of belonging. The present study has implications for sociolinguistic research and heritage language instruction. It offers a novel approach to understanding heritage language ownership of Arab transnationals who live in the Gulf, accurately capturing their linguistic-heritage connections in a non-Western context. One of the implications of this study is that it encourages an inclusive educational environment that utilizes translanguaging pedagogies in an attempt to navigate hegemonic language ideologies that exclude hybrid populations.

School

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department

Applied Linguistics Department

Degree Name

MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Graduation Date

Fall 9-2025

Submission Date

9-13-2025

First Advisor

Mariah Fairley

Committee Member 1

Maha Bali

Committee Member 2

Nadia Shalaby

Extent

188 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

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